NBA '08 First Look

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We shoot a few jumpers with Sony's upcoming portable basketball game.

By Jeff Haynes

One of the largest sports surprises of last year was Sony's PSP basketball title, NBA '07. The game featured decent gameplay, but it was the numerous mini-games that really stole the spotlight. Thanks to modes like Conquest and Carnival, fans could really enjoy a solid basketball title wherever they went. This year, Sony's preparing to release a follow up to the game with NBA '08, and they're working on improving everything that made last year so addictive. Obviously, that means tightening up the existing mini-games and providing a number of new ones.

We managed to see three different mini-games at Sony's Gamers Day, which should be extremely enjoyable. Pinball will make a return in NBA '08, although now there will be three separate NBA themed basketball tables that players can mess around with. The one we played was themed on the NBA Skills Challenge, and featured a new tilt function that could be triggered with the analog stick. Another mini-game was Shootin' Bricks, a basketball themed version of Arkanoid with a few twists. While players needed to break bricks with a ball and bounce them back into play with their paddle, they could accelerate the speed of the paddle with the square button to match their style of play. They could also tilt the angle of the paddle with the L and R buttons to bounce the ball in different directions.

Finally, players could test their reflexes with Block A Shot, which was a Whack-A-Mole variant with basketballs, shot clocks and other objects popping out of the six game holes. By tapping three directional pad buttons or face buttons, your hands managed to smack the objects, adding to your score. Players needed to hit enough objects and the shot clock in time to progress to the next round, while avoiding whistles, which would give you fouls - three fouls and the game was over. This was perhaps the most addictive mini-game of '08, and we noticed that a lot of people replayed this mode over and over again. While Conquest mode wasn't playable in the build we saw, we were told that it would be updated in this year's game, including the option to earn upgrades for players and cities to make them harder to defeat in the pitched court games. What's more, while the unlockable items that players will receive for playing these mini-games will make a return, the development team is still trying to figure out what they want to include in the game.

The standard basketball game hasn't been neglected either; the title will run at 60 frames a second, and will now feature a new icon system to help you know which player on your team you'd wind up passing to at any particular moment by hitting the X button. This is to help alleviate the ball potentially being lost because it's a small object on a small screen. NBA '08 for the PSP will also feature a number of collision changes to make contested shots much harder to make, and the "get high or get wide" system to help defenders hamper shooters or players that like driving the lane. Finally, there should be a brand new rebound assist icon that will give players a sense of where a ball might be going during a missed shot, so they can box out and try to come down with the rock. We'll have more on NBA '08 as soon as possible.